After 55 years of teaching dance in Five Points, Cleo Parker Robinson finally has a permanent home for her Denver dance ensemble.

Located at the intersection of North Washington Street and Park Avenue and directly adjacent to the Historic Shorter African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Center for the Healing Arts officially opened to the public Saturday morning.

“I just want you all to look around this room. I want to know: is this a dream? Am I in a dream? Tell me this is for real,” Robinson said to a crowd of hundreds inside the new facility Saturday morning. “This is a dream that I have dreamt about for so long, for so long.”

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A $25 million, 25,000-square foot facility that was built in under two years, the project was funded through a combination of sources, including the Denver Housing Authority, which previously owned the Shorter property, as well as the utilization of federal funds provided through the New Market Tax Credit Program.

Inside the facility are three dance studios, the largest of which is 40% larger than the biggest inside the AME Church, where the nationally-acclaimed ensemble had been headquartered since 1988. It also features a theatre with 240 partially- or fully-retractable seats, allowing the space to be used for rehearsals when fully retracted.

The building is of modern design, with glass lining the front wall as well as on the roof, giving the entryway a significant amount of natural light. What used to be the northeast exterior wall of the adjacent church now makes up the center’s left-side wall, though the buildings remain structurally separate from one another as required by historic landmark laws.

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“We are in a world, in a city and in a place where healing is needed,” said District 9 Councilmember Darrell Watson, noting the significance of such a meaningful community center opening in one of Denver’s most historic black neighborhoods days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“We the dancers of Cleo Parker, we the families and friends and lovers of this space understand that we’re not just cutting the ribbon for a building. We are focused on ensuring the healing inside this building comes outside,” Watson added.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston also made speeches during the building’s opening event.

Now fully open and operational, the new facility’s first event, a sold-out performance by Jookin’ dance artist Charles Riley, also known as Lil Buck, took place Saturday night.

For Robinson, the center will not only serve as a way to encourage more people to dance, but also to connect those of all walks of life to one another.

“You have to learn how to dance in order to be resilient, you have to learn how to dance to know when to stand still, and then when to move. And know how to move with others, no matter what language, what background, how young, how old,” Robinson said.